Biomedical and Biosensing Applications of Optical Fibers and Fiber Sensors

Level: Introductory Length: 4 hours Format: In-Person Lecture Intended Audience: Technical managers, scientists, engineers, technicians, and research students who wish to learn about biosensors and medical sensors relying on fiber sensing technology and review their implementation and applications. The course is also suitable to gain an overview of the field and to learn about the state-of-the-art of fiber optic-based biomedical and life sciences applications and devices. Description: This course provides a broad overview of optical fiber sensing principles and techniques used for biomedical applications. It also presents the current status and trends in the healthcare industry, detailing the medical needs that demand the use of optical fibers and fiber-based sensors, as well as market characteristics. A broad review of fiber optic sensor (FOS) technologies is made, describing their operating principles, associated components (such as light sources, detectors, couplers, polarizers, etc.), and the specialty fiber types required for biomedical sensing system integration. Specific sensing techniques and devices for the detection/measurement of different biomedical parameters are made along with illustrative case examples and commercial success stories. Besides reviewing sensors, other uses of specialty optical fibers for biomedical devices — such as endoscopes, imaging, and laser delivery, among others — will be briefly made. The course also analyses the technical and clinical challenges associated with the design, developing, prototyping and certification of fiber optic biomedical devices. Learning Outcomes: This course will enable you to: - provide an overall view of the healthcare and biomedical fiber sensing industries, with their trends and markets. - explain some of the special biomedical considerations such as materials biocompatibility and related industry standards. - describe how specialty optical fibers are used in diverse biomedical devices and sensors. - explain a wide range of sensor types for physiological, biomedical and imaging applications. - describe the operating principles, features, and advantages of fiber optic sensors. Instructor(s): Alexis Mendez is President of MCH Engineering LLC, a consulting firm specializing in optical fiber sensing technology, and has over 30 years of experience in optical fiber technology, sensors and instrumentation. He was the former Group Leader of the Fiber Optic Sensors Lab within ABB Corporate Research (USA), working on the development of new fiber optic sensing systems. Dr. Mendez was also Director of Sensing Solutions at Micron Optics Inc. He has written over 70 technical publications, holds 4 US patents and is recipient of an R&D 100 award. He is an SPIE Fellow, editor of the Specialty Optical Fibers Handbook, and co-author of “Fiber Optic Sensors: Fundamentals and Applications”, Fourth Edition textbook. Dr. Mendez was also past chair of the International Optical Fiber Sensors Conference (OFS-18), and is vice-Chair of the IEEE Fiber Optic Sensor Standards group. Dr. Mendez holds a PhD. degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University. Éric Pinet graduated as Engineer in Physics and Chemistry from ESPCI ParisTech. He obtained his PhD in Molecular Biophysics from Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris and moved to Canada where he worked 3 years developing synthetic hydrogels for spinal cord repair at Organogel Canada. He then became a Post-Doctoral fellow in Chemical Engineering department at Laval University in Québec before joining FISO Technologies, now Resonetics, where he worked for more than 23 years in developing fiber optic sensors and optical sensing technologies for various applications, mostly in the medical domain. He is presently Principal Research Scientist, Specialist in Medical Integration. He has written over 30 scientific papers, holds 4 US patents and participated to over 20 conferences and workshops. Event: SPIE Photonics West 2025 Course Held: 27 January 2025